I Wanted To Go

In “72” and “73,” I was unsure just who, was me. But by 1974, I wanted to go; to go to war. I had seen some vets; the scars they carried. But I thought it was meant, for me to go, maybe be buried. I did not know.

My Daddy shipped out in “42;” To fight his way through World War Two. Rolled with Patton’s Third Army, across the Rhine, to shoot some Germans and drink some wine.

My Papa shipped out in World War One, to carry the dead from the fields of Verdun. They say 600,000 lay in the mud and the sun. Papa helped remove them one by one.

The men in my family were warriors you see; back many generations before the colonist crossed the sea. They were some of those who refused to kneel to “Old King George.” Decide to take up the musket and sword.

Some men of the family fought on American soil; against cousins and uncles in the great Civil War. None of the family owned men, by choice. But that was only a small reason for force.

According to family history, no one went to Korea. But then came Vietnam and the war in East Asia. Then I was starting to come to the age that…”I wanted to go.” Serve like the rest, as a man of war.

I fretted and worried through “73;” afraid the conflict would end without me. At seventeen, I tried to enlist. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. They didn’t want a boy, a teen.

By 1974, it was all winding down. Demobilization, they said it was called. So I enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard. For eight years I served. Though I’d had no war to fight, I still proudly served.

I fought my battles in surf and sea. Sometimes bringing lifeless bodies back with me. To long in the water; they were blue and pale. Their lips wet and shriveled like some kind of Kale.

But we brought them back to their families you see, to lay them to rest as the felt pleased. After two tours, I felt my duty was done. So I went on to raise me some sons.

Time has been good, they've never to choose. Whether to fight to win, or fight to lose. But should the day rise another generation to bring; I want them to know that “I wanted to go.”

Not for wealth, fame or family name; but for God and Country; God Bless the USA!